Bitten by the Idol bug...

American Idol has hit America like you wouldn't believe - a record breaking 97.5 millions votes cast to crown this year's American Idol!! And finally, the 7th American Idol is crowned - congratulations, DAVID COOK!!

 

The finale saw a battle of the Davids...

David Archuleta VS David Cook in "Let's Get Ready To Rumble" style...

 

The first round, songs chosen by Clive Davis, showcased a great start for Cook who blew away the crowd with "I Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" followed by Archuleta's rendition of "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", which showcased his continued consistency. Simon's call swayed towards Archuleta for the first round, although he was singing praises about Cook, who performed first.

 

The second round was titled, "New Song Contestant Choice", which basically showcased lesser known (a.k.a. popular) songs. Cook did a good job for the song of his choice, "Dream Big", while Archuleta went for a ballad-ish song, "In This Moment". Again, Simon's call swayed towards Archuleta and again, claimed Archuleta the winner of the round!

 

The third and final round was the contestant's choice. Cook chose "The World I Know", trying something different, which Simon blatantly boo-boo-ed. However, Cook took it like a man and politely responded, "Why do something I've already done? But I understand what you (Simon) are saying..." and the crowd went wild! Archuleta played it safe and sure with his choice - "Imagine" - the judges were impressed without a doubt! "What we have witnessed is a knockout!" Simon says.

 

Well, in the end, with 56% of the vote in a star-studded finale, the next American Idol was crowned today, and it belongs to... DAVID COOK!! After watching the final two show, I had already thought that Archuleta was a shoo in to win, since the judges were so blown away by his performances... Plus, he was consistent all the way. But on the other hand, Cook showed improvement day after day, performance after performance! I was indeed pleasantly surprised that it was Cook who won... and even more surprised when Simon apologized for being too brash with his comments!!

 

Congratulations, David Cook - indeed you've blown America away... Kudos, you deserve it!

Technorati Tags: American Idol 7,David Archuleta,David Cook,Results,Winner,Finale

Unpreferred Residence : The Reprise

Yes, finally I'm getting to posting the pictures taken from my stay at Residence Hotel... (Click here for my review of the hotel) Sorry for the delay. It may be slightly difficult to see the little creepy crawlies, the unwanted guests, or the whatever-you-want-to-call-them... So, I will be employing my feeble Photoshop "skills" to point "them" out lar...

My first impression (The Lobby):

At the lift lobby (The View; which sadly, I didn't get - the view from my room was the carpark; not worth taking the pic, haha!):

<= AM; PM =>

My first impression of The Room:

My later findings (The Pests):

The fridge => A closer look =>

The coffee/tea-making tray => =>

On the curtain, the next morning =>

How nice and impressive the hotel looks from the outside (The Entrance):

Unpreferred Residence

Residence Hotel @ Uniten... A place I was put up in for two nights, as a workshop I had to attend was scheduled to from 8am till 10pm. I thought, the workshop venue was all the way in Uniten, which is located in the Serdang/Bangi area, and since accomodation was arranged for, why not... (Despite having heard a negative review of the hotel) As a result, my room at Residence Hotel @ Uniten was called "home" for two nights.

As usual, after checking into my room, I "explored" the room... Checking out the fridge contents, which switch turned on/off what, etc... My first impression of the room as soon as I stepped in was probably 2 stars, as the room didn't look that well maintained... Little did I know the surprises in store for me as I started checking out the nooks and crannies...

When I opened the fridge, I was greeted by little creepy crawlies - baby cockroaches! There were at least 2 or 3 there... I don't know how they managed to get into a fridge, which was supposed to be airtight... It was obviously left off as it wasn't even cold when I opened it... No wonder our little uninvited guests made it their playground!

I then proceeded to check out the coffee/tea making setup... Cups - check, spoons - check, kettle - check, coffee/tea/sugar/creamer - check... They were on a tray, which when lifted... Creepy crawlies - check!!! Gross!!! More mini cockroaches... eww!!! I then started to notice that there were little unwanted guests running around on the table!!!

Obviously, my rating for the hotel dropped... duh!

To top it off was the surprise I got when I woke up this morning!! I think you can see where I'm getting to here... hehe! Yep, lo and behold, I was disgusted to find a cockroach in my bed!! It was about 1.5cm long!!! The biggest one I've seen yet!! Super disgusted by now... It crawled onto my pillow, which I immediately picked off my bed and tried to shake off the little pest onto the floor... I thought it had dropped onto the floor and ran off, but oh was I wrong!! It managed to hide from sight... When I looked again a few minutes later, there it was on top of my pillow!!! Argh!!

So, I took the pillow to the bathroom and tried to shake off the cockroach again... It was somehow annoyingly impossible to shake the little critter off the pillow... So in the end, I had to muster up all my courage and overcome my utter disgust, took a tissue paper and quickly pick it off my pillow and toss it into the toilet bowl... Kim 1 - Creepy crawly 0!

My rating for this hotel now is way, way, waaayyy below the initial 2 stars that I rated... I hope I won't be awakened to anymore surprises tomorrow morning! And also, that none of these unwanted pests hitch a free, uninvited ride home with me... ewww!!!

Time to sleep... Will try to post some pictures later on... Just a note that the food is not too bad, but the buffet spread is limited and mainly a Malay food spread... The meeting venue was not too bad also, but it certainly was freezing in there!

Signing off from the unpreferred Residence... Goodnight.